The newly opened Hongqiao Park, also known as Red Bridge Park, has a name deriving from the 4-kilometer red bridge built in Guangming District, Shenzhen, and ranked sixth among the 10 most visited places in China last Chinese New Year, according to a list published in February by Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. In fact, the park, reputed as "the most beautiful red ribbon," won the Best Landscape Design Award at the 2020 World Architecture Festival China (2020 WAFChina).

A scene of Hongqiao Park in Guangming District. Courtesy of the interviewee

For Ramón Cuesta, project manager of the park, this was something that he had never expected and a total surprise. The Spanish architect is the representative for the Shenzhen Office of the Dutch landscape architecture firm LOLA (Lost Landscapes), which is based in Rotterdam and was founded in 2006.

"I could not have imagined this park would become so popular, and in such a short time, it was ranked as the sixth most visited place in China during the Chinese New Year. Not only that, it was the second most visited place in Shenzhen," Cuesta said excitedly during an exclusive interview with the Shenzhen Daily.

Cuesta at the sightseeing tower at the end point of the red bridge. Liu Xudong

"In the first three days of the Chinese New Year, the park received 200,000 visitors, which was an average of 65,000 per day. Not even the city where I live in Spain has such a large population. I mean, imagine how shocking it is for me, as if my whole city had come here in one day!" said Cuesta.

The architect, who sees the park as if it were his own child, said, although he did not expect this success, the park deserves it because it is a visionary project that goes with the future.

Cuesta plays a video about Hongqiang Park during an exclusive interview with Shenzhen Daily. Liu Xudong

A visionary project

The park, located between Guangqiao Road and Dadingling Greenway, covers an area of about 402 hectares. It consists of three areas: the entrance area, the Bihu Lake area and the forest area stretching from west to east. The three areas are connected by a 4-kilometer-long red bridge. The bridge starts from Guangming New Town Park in the west, passes the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway and Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, and ends at the Dadingling Greenway in the east.

A bird's-eye view of Hongqiao Park. Liu Xudong

According to Cuesta, the red bridge offers an accessible path for everyone. "It's not very steep, so even a person in a wheelchair can get all the way to the last point of the bridge from downtown Guangming. This whole path, which takes about 30 to 40 minutes, offers a pleasant experience," he said.

They chose the prominent and festive red color because, according to Cuesta, it makes very good company with the green nature of the forest.

"Let's say the red brings out the best of the green of the forest, and in return, the forest also highlights the bridge itself, which is one of the fundamental pillars of this project. One of the main goals of this project is to generate access from the urban area of Guangming to the forest. So, making it so visible with the elegant red is a way to invite people to enjoy nature," Cuesta explained.

The festive red color of the bridge makes very good company with the green nature of the forest. Courtesy of the interviewee

For Cuesta, this experience of coming to the mountain from the city and walking into wonderful views in nature is probably why people have accepted the park so quickly and want to come and see it for themselves.

"If you look at it from a long-term perspective, you will realize that the bridge is a visionary project, and it offers an exclusive experience that very few places in Shenzhen, or even China, can offer. In this sense, it's a project that also looks very much to the future of the city, not only of Guangming, but also of Shenzhen," said Cuesta.

Expat photographers visit Hongqiao Park during a photo-shooting trip to Guangming District.

Much more to come

Although he is thrilled that people like the park, Cuesta stressed that this is only the beginning, because there is still so much more left to do.

Cuesta (C) poses for a photo with the visitors at the sightseeing tower at the end point of the red bridge of Hongqiao Park.

"What we have built so far is the entrance area, the red path and two sightseeing towers. But there is much more to come to enrich the park with landscape and ecology, and a sports program," Cuesta said.

Phase II of the project, which is about to start, is scheduled for completion by the end of this year. It will include about five stadiums for special sports, all connected by a ring around the lake, which is currently is a reservoir designated to become a recreational lake in the future.

"We plan to develop three distinct zones. One is the entrance zone, which is a much more urban area with a visitor center. Then we will have an intermediate zone, a more active one, which is urban, but at the same time very green with its portion of forest. And, finally, what we have is a zone that is much more focused on nature and the experience in the forest. In this way, we create a transition from the more urban to the more natural area," said Cuesta.

Apart from the sports program at the lake, they will also integrate more sports involving all the senses in the forest area, such as meditation, yoga, climbing, archery, tai chi,… and a network of hiking, horse riding and mountain bicycling trails. "All of these will be integrated in the forest area, which is much more sensitive and more natural," said Cuesta.

What remains to be done, in Cuesta's words, is to provide quality to the park. On one hand, they will inject richness into the forest. "Currently, the plantation in the forest is not very diverse, so we need to introduce new species that will attract new ecosystems and enrich the value of the forest itself, which is to restore the forest," said Cuesta. On the other hand, they also plan to provide the forest with aforementioned activities based on the sports.

Successes and challenges

En un proyecto tan grande como el Parque Hongqiao, los retos son inevitables. Sin embargo, Cuesta estaba muy orgulloso de que el parque sigue con los conceptos originales.

For a large project like Hongqiao Park, challenges are inevitable, but Cuesta was very proud that the park keeps the original concepts.

"The process of doing a project in China, or elsewhere, in the end, is a long process. You start with the competition, then a lot of things happen, and then it gets built. Very often it's a very different thing than what you started with and other times it's very similar. In this case, we are very proud that the concepts and ideas from the beginning are there," said Cuesta.

Working in China has been a challenge for Cuesta, an experience from which his team has learned a lot and continues to learn every day.

"One of the biggest challenges we have had is to adapt to the circumstances of the place that we were encountering, even during the construction process. The site was very wild with many pre-existences and limitations that we didn't know about, such as the terrain, the protected areas, and land use. We even found cemeteries. …This forced us to modify the design many times and slow down its implementation," said the project manager.

Since they didn't expect the park to become so popular and attract so many people, they are now in the process of improving services such as restrooms, rubbish management and resting areas.

Guangming, an example of huge growth

The project that brought Cuesta to China two and a half years ago also has given him an opportunity to learn about and witness the development of Guangming and Shenzhen in general.

He has been to Guangming frequently, basically every week, especially when they were building the first phase of the project.

"During these two and a half years I have seen how Guangming District develops and grows. When we started the project, this growth was obviously visible. Shenzhen is a very new city that is growing every day and Guangming is an example of that. It has developed tremendously. Now when you are in the park and you look at the district, you realize that it has changed a lot and has grown a lot," Cuesta said.

For him, Shenzhen is a city that offers many opportunities, especially for professionals in design and architecture.

"As you know, Shenzhen has been built over the past 40 years. Everything has been built from scratch, and it's still being built. So, of course, the projects we are doing here are projects that are very difficult to find in other countries in the world," said Cuesta.

Another aspect that impresses Cuesta is that Shenzhen is a city that is investing a lot in nature, in ecology, and in parks.

"In our case, we specialize in huge parks. Shenzhen is the best place for that. As an architect, I am really enjoying myself in Shenzhen. It's true that the pace of work is at another level, too, but yes, I am very happy," said the Spanish architect.

Apart from Hongqiao Park, LOLA is working on three more projects in Shenzhen — the renovation project of Shenzhen Bay Park, the renovation project of Litchi Park in Luohu and an urban park project in Qianhai.